Arizona's immigration law has ripple effect

by Erin Kelly - Apr. 28, 2010 12:00 AMRepublic Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Arizona's tough new immigration law has spawned calls for boycotts, a travel warning from Mexico to its citizens and a possible federal lawsuit, but a key Republican senator said Tuesday that it is not likely to result in comprehensive immigration reform this year.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham had been the lone GOP senator supporting reform, but he said it appears a reform bill must wait until 2012 to gain enough public and political support to pass. A reform bill could not pass without bipartisan support.

"Good people in Arizona are so afraid of an uncontrolled border that they passed a law that I think is unconstitutional," Graham said at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "We've got a long way to go to prove we can secure the border."

Arizona's law is under review by the U.S. Justice Department to determine whether it violates the Constitution, and Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that he may challenge the law in court.

Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for Arizona, said his office is working closely with the Justice Department to review the immigration law, which makes it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally and requires police and other law-enforcement agents to check documents of people they reasonably suspect to be illegal.

"The president clearly has concerns," Burke told The Arizona Republic. "The Justice Department has been in discussions with us about the bill and its impact on federal law."

Also Tuesday:

• Because of the new law, the Mexican government warned its citizens to use extreme caution if visiting Arizona.

• The Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association said six groups have canceled meeting or convention plans in the state. Member hotels and resorts said the groups' reservations ranged from 20 to 120 rooms.

• Calls for boycotts of Arizona and the state's businesses continued to pour in from neighboring states and countries.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, testifying before the Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that the government has made huge progress in securing the border but argued that reform is needed.

Arizona's action, and violence along the southwestern border, should not be used as an excuse for Congress to avoid taking up comprehensive immigration reform, she said.

"The border is as secure now as it has ever been," Napolitano told the Senate panel.

Napolitano, who served as Arizona's governor before joining President Barack Obama's administration in January 2009, said the number of Border Patrol agents has doubled to more than 20,000 people in the past five years. That's the highest level of staffing in the Border Patrol's 85-year history, she said.

At the same time, Homeland Security has increased the amount of technology deployed at the border, Napolitano said.

For example, she said, Customs and Border Protection now has 30 Z-Backscatter mobile X-ray units that screen passenger vehicles crossing the border. That's up from nine units in 2009.

But Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who has been at the center of the immigration firestorm since signing Senate Bill 1070 into law on Friday, made it clear Tuesday night that she doesn't think the federal government has upheld its responsibilities when it comes to border security.

"Why don't they do their job and uphold their laws?" said Brewer, who lashed out at the Obama administration and Napolitano in particular.

The issue "just falls on deaf ears," Brewer said.

Napolitano, Brewer added, probably knows the border issue better than anyone. But, the governor said, "now that's she's on the other side of the fence . . . she's just ignoring us."

Federal officials say that increased security has resulted in fewer immigrants trying to enter the country illegally and an increase in the seizures of illegal drugs.

Mark Qualia, a spokesman for the CBP, said the number of illegal immigrants caught trying to cross the southwestern border has been steadily declining since 2005, when about 1.2 million illegal immigrants were apprehended. In 2009, he said, the number dropped to about 541,000.

At the same time, seizures of illegal drugs continue to rise.

Since March 2009, federal agents have seized 1.65 million kilograms of drugs along the border, an increase of 15 percent, Napolitano said.

She said she fears that Arizona's new law will divert time and money from catching drug smugglers and other felons to go after people who have committed misdemeanor immigration violations.

"We believe it will detract from and siphon resources away from those committing the most serious crimes," she told the senators.

Meanwhile, the Mexican state of Sonora announced that it will not attend a meeting it and Arizona has held every year for the past four decades.

The meeting of the Sonora-Arizona Commission, scheduled to take place June 3-4 in Phoenix, was canceled as part of a protest of the state's immigration laws, officials said in a letter to the state.

California officials are taking action, too. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday introduced a resolution calling for a boycott of Arizona because of its new anti-immigration law.

Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn said she planned to introduce a similar resolution for the City Council, according to the Los Angeles Times. California Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, sent a letter to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, asking for a list of Arizona businesses and agencies that do business for California.

Steinberg proposes that "California do everything legally possible to sever its economic ties with the state of Arizona until that state's newly enacted racial-profiling law is repealed," according to a statement posted on his website.

Brewer called such boycotts and actions "unfortunate."

"I am really disappointed that people would try to resolve their problems with the legislation by boycotting the state," Brewer said Tuesday. "They are only depriving the legal residents of Arizona when they do that. I think it's both unfortunate and unnecessary."

Brewer, who is reaching out to her gubernatorial counterparts in other border states, said she has not specifically addressed the boycott issue but is trying to explain Arizona's position on the immigration issue.

She spoke with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson a few days ago and hopes to talk to Schwarzenegger and Texas Gov. Rick Perry soon.

The Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association said the estimated economic value of the cancellations ranges from $5,000 for the smaller groups to $45,000 for the larger.

Kristen Jarnagin, vice president of communications for the association, said the properties did not report the types of groups, other than a meeting of immigration attorneys. Also, a number of tourists have been calling or writing hotels to cancel plans.

"What the biggest unknown is and what our biggest concern is," Jarnagin said, "is that a lot of groups who are currently in the process of planning and would have considered Arizona won't even consider us. They will just mark us off their list.

"So it's almost like the silent boycott. We likely won't ever know the real economic impact because we will just never hear from those people."